One of the VIP-guests of the launching of the Industrial More, on the 25th of January at Peters Shipyards in Kampen, was Svein Engh. Mr. Engh is managing director and group head maritime finance of CIT, and flew especially in from New York with his colleague Andrea Zana (vice-president CIT leveraged finance and transportation) to witness an event that their company helped come to fruition. His group provided the financing for the fifth Sole that was added to the CFL-fleet.

CIT Maritime Finance is a subsidiary of US-based CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT). Founded in 1908, CIT is now a listed bank holding company with more that 33 billion dollars in financing and leasing assets. A member of the illustrious Fortune 500, it provides financing and leasing capital to its small business and middle market clients and their customers across more than 30 industries. It also operates CIT bank, its US commercial bank subsidiary.

One of the specialities of the New York-based finance group is transportation finance. Previously, the focus of the 14 billion dollar portfolio of CIT Transportation Finance was on aerospace and rail financing. CIT recently expanded into maritime financing and appointed Norwegian-born Svein Engh in leading the group. ‘We have big ambitions and consider this to be a good moment to expand our portfolio in maritime transportation.
‘Why we opted to finance this vessel for CFL? We believe in their strategy. There is a profitable future for multipurpose vessels with low fuel consumption and with an overall good environmental performance. Especially in the configuration of the Sole Type vessel; it is also equipped for the one-hold transportation of project cargo and for operations in areas with low infrastructure and strict eco-regulations. We sincerely believe that this is a segment with strong global growth potential. Besides, it is less vulnerable for economic cycles and therefore providing a solid cash flow. We were pleased to invest in such a promising project.’